Eutin exchange up and running
Memories to last a lifetime: six Lawrence students pose in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, for a selfie shot by their chaparone, Stephen Arbeau, while enjoying life in Lawrence’s sister city of Eutin, Germany.
The Lawrence, Kansas and Eutin, Germany Exchange is back up and running again! The Sister Cities Lawrence and the students have successfully re-started the long-standing tradition of this important exchange with our Sister City in Eutin, Germany.
After the pandemic caused exchanges to be canceled in ’20 and ’21, in June ’22 a group of five Lawrence students, along with Avery Miller, chaperone, traveled to Eutin in June and 12 Eutin students came to Lawrence in September with a chaperone.
The 2023 Exchange was led by Stephen Arbeau, a Lawrence High School German teacher. Arbeau accompanied six Lawrence students to Germany leaving Lawrence in late May and returned safely home on June 28, 2023. While there, the students were all paired separately with German host families with children/students of similar ages. The Lawrence students attended German school and other daily activities with their respective hosts. The group of Lawrence exchange students also made side trips to other cities - Berlin, Hamburg, Kiel and Lübeck. Additionally, the students were invited by the mayor to the city hall to sign the official guest book for the City of Eutin, which has been a tradition for all exchange groups over the years. Adventure, memories, experiences and, most importantly, friendships were forged.
Twelve students and a teacher, will arrive in Lawrence from Eutin, Germany, on 9/22/23, for a three-week visit to complete the 2023 Eutin/Lawrence sister-city exchange.
The twelve Eutin students are divided among families at Free State High, Lawrence High, and Bishop Seabury Academy. In addition to attending classes, students will sample various local cultural events such as LHS/Free State Homecoming, KU football, Haskell University Pow-Wow, St. John’s Oktoberfest, and Art in the Park, and make visits to regional places of interest like the Kanza Prairie or the Flint Hills. It will be a busy three weeks!
Eutin and Lawrence have been sister cities for 33 years. Our two additional sister cities are Hiratsuka, Japan and Iniades, Greece. For more information about these partnerships, visit www.sistercitieslawrence.org.
We have six Lawrence host families in place for the fall visit, but we are in need of six more host families. If you or someone you know is interested in hosting, please contact Stephen Arbeau, chaperone, at 816-694-7657 or Ken Albrecht, Friends of Eutin chair, at 785-331-5561 or reach out to us at the www.sistercitieslawrence.org